Yesterday Kate asked me: “What is anodizing?” Well, the Wikipedia definition is the following: “Anodizing, or anodising, is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts.” My response was a little less technical — it is a method for coloring aluminum. It is not a coating that sits on the surface but is more like stain that penetrates the pores of the aluminum and remains semi-transparent. It’s a very popular process with automotive parts where the aesthetic appearance is important. You may ask, “why is he telling me this?” This is the process we are using on our current semi-conductor project. As a component of the product demonstration display, we have 5/16″ aluminum plates anodized red, and it looks great.  Click here to check out the finished product. 

The news of our grand opening has led to a rush of interest, which we are very excited about. So what are we working on now?

1. A local semi-conductor company is keeping us busy with more project demonstration displays (http://ckvalentidesigns.com/gallery/demo_mchp/index.html)

2. A mobile bar for Sam Hughes’ Place Restaurant in Tucson, AZ. SHP is a returning customer (see http://ckvalentidesigns.com/gallery/copper_shp/index.html, http://ckvalentidesigns.com/gallery/led_shp/index.html) – and did we mention the food is excellent? Stop by the next time you’re in Tucson.

3. Next in line is a built-in bench/table for a residential billiard room – drawings to be started soon!

We appreciate all the comments and emails and promise to get to this journal more often!